1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a brush having a removable bristle pack that snaps on and off by the depression of a pin.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional paint brushes have certain common disadvantages, wherein they are usually bound by an epoxy or some similar means and are permanently attached to a handle by means of a metal ferrule. After use the brushes must be cleaned, preserved or discarded. All options except discarding the brushes are made difficult by the manner in which the filaments or bristles, of whatever kind, whether natural or man made, are fixed to the handle. The dense collections of bristles present cleaning problems because of the manner in which the densely clustered bristles are permanently held to the handle by the ferrule. It is in this region of the ferrule where paint tends to build up within the bristles, and it is in this confined area where the paint is most difficult to clean. Over time and repeated use of the brush, a build up of paint collects in this area. This reduces the life of the brush since this paint build up will cause the bristles to prematurely wear and break.
To properly clean a paint brush requires a considerable amount of solvent, especially where oil based paints are used. The solvents are not only expensive but they can present an environmental pollutant. As each brush occurs an additional cleaning, the process increases in expense and takes longer to get the bristles properly cleaned. As a result many paint brushes are used only a few times, even after attempts at cleaning, and then discarded because of the hardening of residual paint in the bristles starting adjacent to the ferrule section.
There presently exists a large number of brushes having a removable handle and/or an interchangeable head for mounting of a bristle pack. Such brushes make it possible to replace the bristle pack at will either for adapting a bristle pack of desired width, replacing a worn out bristle pack or for cleaning the bristle pack.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,516, issued Jul. 5, 1988, to Tremblay, discloses a brush having a removable handle in the form of nippers and a head having a housing to receive the handle. This invention relies upon notches and detents in the housing and handle to latch the two components together. This invention requires the manufacture of a very intricate housing and handle, but does provide an easy release between the head and handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,359,749, issued Nov. 1, 1994, to Chu, teaches an improved technique for mounting the detachable bristle pack onto the paint brush handle, by means of an insertable pin that actually transverses the bristle pack. The pin is not an integral part of either the bristle pack or the handle. The design by Chu has the bristle pack insertable into an open handle portion thereby making it more difficult to paint in tight areas.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,733, issued to Leu, on Jun. 15, 1993, discloses a paint brush with releasable bristles but requiring the use of loose parts such as a thumb screw, washer and thumb nut.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,435,037 and 5,289,606, issued on Oct. 21, 1997 to Ledingham, depict brushes with detachable bristle packs. The bristle packs are all insertable into a cavity in the handle and with these patents the means for securing them are quite involved as shown by the many figures describing the inventions.
None of the above inventions and Patents, taken singly or in combination, is given to describe the instant invention as claimed.
The present invention relates to a paint brush having a replaceable bristle pack. The present invention relates specifically to a brush which is designed to have a bristle pack snap on and off a male type insertable handle.
An important object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved paint brush construction in which the back bound bristles are readily separable from the brush handle for exchange or cleaning.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved paint brush construction in which the user only has to press an extruding pin to release the bristle pack into the cleaning solution or to discard.
An object of the invention is to have no loose parts which are not integrally connected to either the handle or the bristle pack.
A further object of the invention is to be able to manufacture the brush with the same conventional techniques as presently used to manufacture conventional paint brushes. That is to employ the same ferrule construction for holding the bristles and the same conventional handle. The only major mechanical difference (other than the present invention is removable) between a conventional paint brush and the present invention is a slot in the ferrule section of the bristle pack and a resilient extruding finger extending from the distal end of the handle. The finger having mounted thereon a pin which is locked into the slot of the ferrule portion when the handle is inserted.
A still further object of the present invention is the ease of cleaning the bristle portion, wherein only a fraction of the cleaning solution is required since the bristle portion can lie horizontally in a very shallow pool of solution.
Another object of the invention is to have interchangeability of brush types, whether they be latex, oil, natural filaments or throwaways.
Another object is to utilize the same concept for use of the handle portion with snap on putty knives, snap on wallpaper seam rollers, wallpaper glue pasters, snap on razors and many other applications related to painting and wallpapering.
And the most important object of the present invention is to provide a paint brush comprised of a bristle pack and a handle wherein neither has to be assembled nor require a third piece for insertion or removal of the bristle pack.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.